WEBVTT - Is a free market "free" if it's regulated?

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know

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<v Speaker 1>from house Stuff Works dot com? Hey, and welcome to

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<v Speaker 1>the podcast. Hi Chuck, Hi Josh. How are you doing?

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<v Speaker 1>I'm great, man, How are you? Okay? I'm all right. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>I know for a fact that you are fully aware

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<v Speaker 1>of the seven billion dollar bailout. So don't say you're

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<v Speaker 1>not the what the seven dollar bailout? The seventy dollar bailout?

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<v Speaker 1>If only? Yeah, yeah, here's you are aware. Sure, I'm

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<v Speaker 1>somewhat politically inclined. That's good. That's good. So, UM, I

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<v Speaker 1>was watching uh an unnamed TV cable news network which

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<v Speaker 1>is called CNN, an unnamed one, and um, basically, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>I was watching basically just coverage of this bailout what

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<v Speaker 1>it means all this. I'm hooked on the bailout. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>if you haven't figured it out by now, I just

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<v Speaker 1>I eat information up right, you should get a T shirt.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm hooked on the bailout. I'm hooked on cash cary. Right. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>So I was this this one commentator, this one pundit

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<v Speaker 1>um was saying, so long free market, and I was thinking,

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<v Speaker 1>you're stupid, you're a stupid person because we don't have

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<v Speaker 1>a free market. Did you know that? Well, of course

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<v Speaker 1>I do. We never had a truly free market. Well

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<v Speaker 1>maybe and early on, yeah, in the early heady salad

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<v Speaker 1>days trading America. Yeah yeah, I'm whiskey right, or bracelets

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<v Speaker 1>and trinkets first for large tracts of land or hemp.

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<v Speaker 1>That was a big one early on s Yeah. So

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<v Speaker 1>um yeah, I'm I'm glad to hear you say that.

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<v Speaker 1>I find it refreshing most people when you say what

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<v Speaker 1>kind of economy does the United States have? They say

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<v Speaker 1>it's a free market economy. And that's just false. And

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<v Speaker 1>let's talk about why it's false. Let's do it. I

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<v Speaker 1>think we should. Um, so basically the one Well, how

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<v Speaker 1>about this. Let's describe a free market economy under the

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<v Speaker 1>capitalist system, and then we can say this is why

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<v Speaker 1>the US doesn't have one of those. Okay, all right,

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<v Speaker 1>so you know who the fought their capitalism was right? Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>Charles Darwin? Darwin, Yes, you know, terrible Adam Smith economist,

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<v Speaker 1>extraordinary and this guy was working from nothing, right, this

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<v Speaker 1>is all just out of this guy's head. He was good. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>he actually wrote The Wealth of Nations, uh in seventy

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<v Speaker 1>so it can't. Yeah, exactly. So the US is like,

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<v Speaker 1>what kind of economy we should we should we have?

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<v Speaker 1>What are they doing over in Scotland? They heard about

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<v Speaker 1>this Adam Smith fella. They bought hom over boughttom dinner

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<v Speaker 1>and he told them everything they needed to know. And

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<v Speaker 1>it's a great theory. Capitalism in theory is great, Okay.

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<v Speaker 1>So basically, when you have a bunch of people that

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<v Speaker 1>have a bunch of products that the there's the supply

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<v Speaker 1>outpaces demand, prices come down exactly. It protects just the

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<v Speaker 1>average consumer like that when you know, when when demand

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<v Speaker 1>is high and supplies kind of low, um, then companies

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<v Speaker 1>are protected. And it's this constant swing back and forth

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<v Speaker 1>between protection for consumers and protection for producing system checks

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<v Speaker 1>and balances, and ultimately whichever one is benefiting at any

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<v Speaker 1>given point in time, everybody benefits because if you have

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<v Speaker 1>if you have demand high, then you have companies who

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<v Speaker 1>are just working away at making stuff. Jobs are up.

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<v Speaker 1>Production is up exactly. And and another point I made

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<v Speaker 1>in this this article is that um, these companies pay

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<v Speaker 1>taxes so indirectly, even people who can't get employment are

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<v Speaker 1>being helped through government funded, taxpayer funded social programs. So

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<v Speaker 1>everybody is doing really well and capitalism employees are probably

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<v Speaker 1>paid even more to yeah when demand is high. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>now there's some there's some natural checks and balances that

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<v Speaker 1>are built into the capitalist system, like, for instance, um

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<v Speaker 1>capital the kind of demands that companies keep wages low.

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<v Speaker 1>You're trying to maximize profits because capitalism foster's competition. Right,

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<v Speaker 1>You've got a lot of people out there competing for

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<v Speaker 1>that consumer dollar that you you want to compete, and

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<v Speaker 1>you want to keep your business efficient and trimp. One

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<v Speaker 1>way to do that is to pay low wages as

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<v Speaker 1>low as you can get people to work for. Right.

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<v Speaker 1>But Smith pointed out that if you pay people slightly

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<v Speaker 1>higher wages, they're going to be able to and this

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<v Speaker 1>is so eighteenth century, They're going to be able to

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<v Speaker 1>feed themselves better, and thus they'll be sturdier and be

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<v Speaker 1>able to work harder, and all of a sudden, you're

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<v Speaker 1>you're more efficient. You can extrapolate that into other terms,

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<v Speaker 1>that a better paid employee should be theoretically a happier

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<v Speaker 1>employee who will work more, be pro be more productive.

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<v Speaker 1>That kind of right, I've seen that firsthand. Actually, as

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<v Speaker 1>a quick aside, I worked at a Stowe Mountain park

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<v Speaker 1>here in the great state of Georgia for many years.

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<v Speaker 1>We had a laser show still do, and I sold

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<v Speaker 1>as I think, you know, the glow in the dark necklaces.

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<v Speaker 1>I had no idea I did. I did that for

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<v Speaker 1>five summers. Man, and the guy it actually wasn't a

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<v Speaker 1>park employee job. It was a private contractor that did this,

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<v Speaker 1>and he paid us on commission. He paid the sixteen

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen year old kids on commission. And man, we made

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<v Speaker 1>I made more money than than I do. Now you're kidding, Well,

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<v Speaker 1>if you factor in bills and things, absolutely you must

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<v Speaker 1>have been quite a hustler. And yeah, but that's that's

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<v Speaker 1>the long story short as we all worked our butts

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<v Speaker 1>off to sell as many as these things we could

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<v Speaker 1>for this guy because we made more money. And in

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<v Speaker 1>the meantime, the park employees were schlepping popcorn and candy

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<v Speaker 1>and stuff. They're all sneaking behind the bushes and smoking

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<v Speaker 1>cigarettes and making out and Stuffy didn't care. They didn't

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<v Speaker 1>care exactly, which kind of brings us to our point

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<v Speaker 1>down the road, which actually we shouldn't get too quite yet,

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<v Speaker 1>because we're not done talking about capitalism. Let's put that

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<v Speaker 1>segway off and we'll pick it up later. Yeah, it

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<v Speaker 1>sounds good at me. Okay. So um, so this is

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<v Speaker 1>all bright shiny capitalism, right. Uh. The problem is is

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<v Speaker 1>when you factor in like the competition, uh, and the competitiveness,

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<v Speaker 1>you actually come up with a a survival of the

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<v Speaker 1>fittest scenario. Darwin told you he factored in exactly. He's

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<v Speaker 1>not the father of capitalism, but man, is he ever important.

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<v Speaker 1>So you get all these companies competing, and then there's

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<v Speaker 1>this thing called a correction. We know and love it

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<v Speaker 1>as the word recession, okay, and all the recession is

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<v Speaker 1>a decline in productivity. And the reason these declines happen

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<v Speaker 1>is because you got you have too many poorly managed companies,

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<v Speaker 1>You have too many bad investments so I don't know,

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<v Speaker 1>like a mortgage backed security or something like that. You

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<v Speaker 1>have all these things basically coming up the works, and

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<v Speaker 1>they actually drag the market down. When the market goes

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<v Speaker 1>into recession, these poorly managed companies and bad investments can't survive,

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<v Speaker 1>so they actually slough off. It's kind of like a

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<v Speaker 1>recession to capitalism is like a forest fire to the woods.

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<v Speaker 1>You've got these raging fire that burns out all the undergrowth.

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<v Speaker 1>It gets rid of the pests and diseases and pestilence

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<v Speaker 1>and all that, and then the only thing left standing

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<v Speaker 1>are these huge old trees that are allowed to flourish

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<v Speaker 1>and grow exactly and then eventually the cycle begins again.

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<v Speaker 1>The undergrowth comes back, and so the pest like what

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<v Speaker 1>we've seen with the Internet, actually the big Internet boom

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<v Speaker 1>that you know, everyone their brothers started a website, a

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<v Speaker 1>start up and the eight I'm sorry in the nineties,

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<v Speaker 1>and uh, same thing happened there. The giants like the

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon dot com, so they stuck around and all the

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<v Speaker 1>other ones fell away. So that was kind of a

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<v Speaker 1>self correcting thing to right, that's the same thing. The

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<v Speaker 1>reason that giants like Amazon dot Com stuck around is

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<v Speaker 1>because they proved their worth to the economy. They provided

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<v Speaker 1>a valuable service that the consumers judged, Hey, we like this,

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<v Speaker 1>we want this, We're gonna give it our money. So

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon survived. Other ones they were bad ideas, for better

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<v Speaker 1>or worse, they didn't appeal to people, so they fell away.

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<v Speaker 1>That's exactly what we're going through right now. The recession.

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<v Speaker 1>This makes me think of recession is actually kind of cool.

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<v Speaker 1>It is, it's a very natural component of capitalism. Here's

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<v Speaker 1>the thing capital capitalism in the United States, it's not

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<v Speaker 1>It doesn't have the full faith of the US government. Normally,

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<v Speaker 1>when we hit a recession, the government goes into socialist mode.

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<v Speaker 1>We start buying stakes and companies and start, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>flooding the market with with all sorts of money and

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<v Speaker 1>adjusting interest rates, that kind of thing. So here's where

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<v Speaker 1>we enter how the US is not a capitalist, free

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<v Speaker 1>market economy. I love the examples he used in this

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<v Speaker 1>article too, because I don't think many people ever think

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<v Speaker 1>of these is bucking capitalism and the free market, but

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<v Speaker 1>it's exactly what it's done. Yeah. Well, the obvious one

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<v Speaker 1>is the SEC security, the Securities Exchange Commission. Yeah, and

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<v Speaker 1>basically they watched the stock market. And the reason the

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<v Speaker 1>SEC exists and and I say in the article, the

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<v Speaker 1>only reason why, or the the very fact that the

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<v Speaker 1>SEC he exists. It shows that capitalism in America isn't

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<v Speaker 1>based on a free market economy. Um. But the reason

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<v Speaker 1>the SEC exist is because in the US, for a

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<v Speaker 1>hundred or two hundred years almost uh, this capitalist economy

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<v Speaker 1>eventually devolved into its worst form of itself. You had

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<v Speaker 1>like Robert Barons that were, you know, as Iron ran

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<v Speaker 1>the novelist. Capitalist novelists would argue, these titans of industry

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<v Speaker 1>helped build modern America and modern America's economy. But as

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<v Speaker 1>somebody who was maybe you know, happy with labor, on

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<v Speaker 1>the side of labor would say, yes, they did, but

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<v Speaker 1>they built it through the direction of the suffering working class,

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<v Speaker 1>on the backs of the working class exactly. So you

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<v Speaker 1>you've got two sides of the same coin. And ultimately,

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<v Speaker 1>if you look at the federal government's track record, they

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<v Speaker 1>usually side on, you know, the suffering, alleviating suffering of

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<v Speaker 1>the working class. They're like, thank you very much, Robert

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<v Speaker 1>Baron for endowing this entire city, but you know, we're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna have to step in. And they had the Securities

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<v Speaker 1>and Exchange Commission was a big one. What else is there?

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<v Speaker 1>Uh I know, another one was the UM. Well it's

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<v Speaker 1>the government getting involved in big companies like Carnegie Steel

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<v Speaker 1>and Standard Oil, and the railroad's union union, Pacific Railroad

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<v Speaker 1>and uh, big major corporations that all of a sudden,

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<v Speaker 1>the government was getting putting their finger in their pie

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<v Speaker 1>and saying, you guys got a little too much power.

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<v Speaker 1>We need to step in and kind of regulate you

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit. Yeah, because that competition from a hundred

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<v Speaker 1>plus years of unread unregulated capitalism led to some really

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<v Speaker 1>nefarious business practices like um, you know, corporations saying that

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<v Speaker 1>they had uh, saying to their investors that they'd made

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<v Speaker 1>you know, seventeen billion dollars or back then, seventeen million

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<v Speaker 1>dollars and profits, but turned around to the government and

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<v Speaker 1>called or you know, wrote off eleven million in losses.

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<v Speaker 1>Things like that, So you create the sec or monopolies.

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<v Speaker 1>Monopolies were the first one, Like you said, the railroads

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<v Speaker 1>and steel companies all that they had too much power

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<v Speaker 1>and they were all basically running the show in their

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<v Speaker 1>their industry. If you wanted steel, you had to go

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<v Speaker 1>to this one company. If you wanted oil, you had

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<v Speaker 1>to go to this one company, so they could set

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<v Speaker 1>whatever prices they want. And really the first appearance of

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<v Speaker 1>government regulation into the free market was the Sherman Antitrust

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<v Speaker 1>Act of eighteen what okay, good enough, but that was

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<v Speaker 1>that was hardly the end. You've got um food packagers, right,

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<v Speaker 1>the f d A in itself is sort of you know,

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<v Speaker 1>sort of the same thing, well big time. I mean, really,

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<v Speaker 1>under a free market system, somebody should be able to

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<v Speaker 1>put as as many you know, rat excrements as possible. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you and I know that there's a very finite amount

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<v Speaker 1>that can be allowed in there. Um, So the f

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<v Speaker 1>d A regulates business, it interferes with the free market.

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<v Speaker 1>The same thing with the Federal Trade Commission there. They

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<v Speaker 1>were actually created to encourage competition among corporations and prevent monopolies.

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<v Speaker 1>Like that's pretty much their soul, their sole reason for existing,

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<v Speaker 1>even the very idea of setting a minimum wage is

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<v Speaker 1>the government getting involved in the business. Yeah, it really isn't.

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<v Speaker 1>I Mean, it took a lot of a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>labor strikes, a lot of violent clashes with police, the

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<v Speaker 1>anarchists were coming up and for a little while there,

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<v Speaker 1>um and and basically ultimately government fell on the side

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<v Speaker 1>of the people. If you really look at it again,

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<v Speaker 1>the federal government's track record over the last hundred or

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<v Speaker 1>so years, they've ultimately sided with the people. I encourage

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<v Speaker 1>you to look at the record, my friends. Yeah, the

0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:51.360
<v Speaker 1>records out there. I mean, it's it's in the faces

0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.600
<v Speaker 1>of the of the happy employees at the FTC and

0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:58.439
<v Speaker 1>the FDA and the SEC. You go look those people

0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:00.800
<v Speaker 1>in the eye, and you can think the government cares

0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:04.160
<v Speaker 1>about me. Yeah. So, so what do we have though?

0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:05.720
<v Speaker 1>If if it's not a free market, what would you

0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:08.440
<v Speaker 1>call it? I would call it a managed economy? And

0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:10.160
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't be the only one to call it that.

0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:12.800
<v Speaker 1>You didn't come up with that term, I didn't. Um,

0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:15.839
<v Speaker 1>it's a managed economy is basically what it's what we have.

0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.640
<v Speaker 1>You have like a free market, but then there's some

0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:22.560
<v Speaker 1>government regulation and oversight and hopefully in all the right places. Yeah.

0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:25.320
<v Speaker 1>So the next time somebody asks you what kind of

0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:28.360
<v Speaker 1>economy does the United States have? Don't say free market?

0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:32.679
<v Speaker 1>Don't you say we have a managed economy? Right? And

0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:35.120
<v Speaker 1>if they want to know what you're talking about, tell

0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:37.720
<v Speaker 1>them to go type in is a free market free

0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:40.400
<v Speaker 1>if it's regulated? On how stuff works? Dot com? And

0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.400
<v Speaker 1>then punch him in the head exactly and stick around

0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:46.520
<v Speaker 1>to find out where Chuck got his current gambling problem.

0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:50.320
<v Speaker 1>But first, so Chuck, where's your gambling problem? Cover? I've

0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:51.960
<v Speaker 1>seen you. I made like a hundred and fifty bucks

0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:55.720
<v Speaker 1>off you during this podcast. How where's it from. Well,

0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:57.720
<v Speaker 1>as you know, Josh, I have the jimmy legs. I

0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.440
<v Speaker 1>have the jumpy legs I have I think the technical

0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:04.280
<v Speaker 1>term is uh r l S. Restless leg syndrome is

0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:10.480
<v Speaker 1>kicking you as we speak. It hurts, but it goes

0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:13.280
<v Speaker 1>a long way to write. Well, Josh, I have this

0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:17.320
<v Speaker 1>uh this uh malady, and I'm on some medication to

0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:20.800
<v Speaker 1>help control my my jimmy legs. And that medication is

0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:23.200
<v Speaker 1>a side effect, and one of them is a compulsive

0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:26.720
<v Speaker 1>activity like gambling. Yeah, so I had the jimmy legs

0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:28.560
<v Speaker 1>and next thing you know, I'm like heading out to

0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:32.640
<v Speaker 1>the Cherokee, North Carolina every weekend to gamble. That's great. Well,

0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:34.160
<v Speaker 1>you know, if I had a kid, I'd say, you're

0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:37.640
<v Speaker 1>putting it through college. What's what's this medication? Uh? Well,

0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.160
<v Speaker 1>I can't divulge the name on the air, but it's

0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:42.480
<v Speaker 1>cured my jimmy legs. But now I'm I'm way in

0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:45.680
<v Speaker 1>the hole. That's great. The casinos, Well, thank you, big Pharma.

0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:48.040
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna go spend this hundred fifty bucks on scratch

0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:51.120
<v Speaker 1>off tickets. Right. And you can read actually about this

0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:53.360
<v Speaker 1>and at a very cool article called The Top ten

0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:57.760
<v Speaker 1>weirdest uh side effects of drugs that you can take

0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:00.640
<v Speaker 1>to make you feel better, also known as Top ten

0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.440
<v Speaker 1>weird prescription drug side effects. You can find that on

0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:08.280
<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. For more on this and

0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:12.120
<v Speaker 1>thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.

0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:14.320
<v Speaker 1>Let us know what you think. Send an email to

0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:19.560
<v Speaker 1>podcast at how stuff works dot com. Brought to you

0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:22.960
<v Speaker 1>by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are

0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:23.160
<v Speaker 1>you